A nation made up of thousands of small islands should be a blessing to any off-grid renewable energy firm, but poor access to upfront financing makes Indonesia a tougher proposition than one would expect. To discuss the market, PV Tech caught up with Verania Andria, associate director, community renewable energy, Millennium Challenge Account Indonesia, which focuses on financing off-grid renewables in Indonesia with grant funding.

Avinash Hiranandani, managing director, RenewSys India, discusses the production of 5-busbar (BB) solar PV cells in India and the potential ramifications of the anti-dumping petition recently filed by Indian manufacturers.

Ecoligo is a Berlin-based crowdfunding start-up for solar projects in Africa’s commercial and industrial (C&I) market. Even though it is a company still very much in its infancy, it is already making waves by providing competitive alternatives to traditional bank loan products and connecting German private investors to tailored off-takers.

After experiencing their own problems with potential induced degradation (PID), Belgium-based Edison Energy took matters into its own hands and developed the Pidbull solution in partnership with imec. Now it sells Pidbull to anyone experiencing issues with PID. As managing director Davy Verheyden explains, it is a problem solar asset owners cannot afford to ignore.

Hoda Atia Moustafa, Africa regional officer of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank Group, caught up with PV Tech to discuss the challenges of investing in PV in Africa.

PEG Africa is a pioneering pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar company focused on West Africa. Co-founder and CEO Hugh Whalan stopped by PV Tech to discuss why this business model is filling gaps in Africa's off-grid solar market, and how it has potential to evolve into meeting needs of consumers beyond electricity access.

Belectric has developed PV plants on every continent of the globe except Antarctica and also delivers energy storage system projects and offers a wide range of energy storage solutions including in-house battery systems, turn-key large-scale battery storage as well as scalable container solutions. Managing director of Belectric Solar and Battery, Frank Amend, spoke to Energy-Storage.News about the company's recent acquisition by RWE subsidiary innogy and where the company sees energy storage (and solar) going.

Nigeria is one of the most economically sound countries on the continent. Trailblazing in many ways including finance, infrastructure and employment, the country has up until very recently been a laggard when it comes to renewable energy. However, a newly-installed government is ensuring priorities are changing and frameworks are being put in place to exploit Nigeria’s clean energy prowess and close the gap between supply and demand. Segun Adaju, president of the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria, discussed with PV Tech how the country is getting to grips with clean energy.

Monica Maduekwe, coordinator of Gender Mainstreaming at the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) caught up with PV Tech to discuss ways in which the organisation is addressing existing barriers to equal participation, including utilising a US$1 million fund from the African Development Bank.

San Francisco-based SunFunder is a solar finance business with a mission to unlock capital for solar energy in emerging markets. It primarily aggregates investment capital through its beyond-the-grid and Solar Empowerment funds, thereby giving accredited investors the opportunity to invest in their on-grid and off-grid solar portfolio. Andrea Griffin, SunFunder’s vice president of global business development, stopped by PV Tech to discuss investment, currency risk and energy storage in West Africa.

Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) executive director Ruka Sanusi and GCIC communications and marketing director Abdul-Nasser Alidu spoke to PV Tech about the work of the Centre, and how it is helping to bridge gaps in Ghana’s energy sector for local businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs.

One of the key sessions at PV CellTech 2017 in Penang, Malaysia, on 14-15 March 2017, is on GW-cell expansions across Southeast Asia and India, and there is a powerful selection of speakers lined up here. PV-Tech spoke to Finlay Colville, the PV CellTech conference Chair, and head of market research at PV-Tech’s parent company Solar Media Ltd.

All eyes are on India after the historic solar bids seen in Madhya Pradesh earlier this month, but headline prices won’t solve the more entrenched problems of the sector. PV Tech caught up with Ashish Khanna, executive director and CEO, Tata Power Solar, at the firm’s Noida offices near New Delhi to garner a rational viewpoint from one of the world's pioneering solar manufacturers and India's top solar rooftop EPC player.